1TB, 1.5TB, 2TB... Does Anyone Want More?. Page 3

Our today’s review is going to talk about the recently released hard disk drive models with 375GB and 500GB per platter data density. We are going to introduce to you the new dual-platter Seagate 7200.12 with 1TB storage capacity, 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 and the today’s capacity leader – 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green.

Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB: WD20EADS

Having acquired 500GB platters, Western Digital went its habitual way and began by releasing Green series drives, i.e. HDDs with a spindle rotation speed of 5400rpm. Of course, you cannot expect any performance breakthroughs from such products, yet Western Digital is the brand that was the first to market a 2TB drive. That’s a very rapid dash considering that before that release the 1.5TB model from Seagate had been the only 1TB+ hard disk available on the market. In other words, WD increased storage capacity twofold in a single jump! The same WD Caviar Green series with 32MB buffer also includes a 3-platter 1.5-terabyte model. A 1-terabyte drive based on two platters is only a matter of time (the manufacturer is waiting until it has enough platters in stock). We wonder if Western Digital will repeat its trick with releasing models under the same name but with different number of platters as it was the case with the EACS series. We, as consumers, would not want such confusion once again.

Unfortunately, we have not yet got hard disk drives from one more series based on 500GB platters. We mean Samsung’s EcoGreen F2. This 5400rpm series has already been spotted in Japan and is limited to a 1.5-terabyte model as Samsung does not use more than three platters in its drives.

We tried to pick up opponents to the new drives as best as we could. It is all clear with the pair of direct predecessors: a 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 with three platters (ST31000333AS) and a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Green with 32MB buffer (WD10EADS). We also included a Western Digital Caviar Black, which had been the fastest desktop model in our comparative test of 1TB drives.

Specifications and Firmware Versions

The following table lists the specifications and firmware versions of the tested products.

You may wonder why we compare Seagate drives with dangerous rather than updated firmware. The fact is our drives belong to early batches and the serial number check says they do not require an update. This must be the reason why they still work in our tests. On the other hand, we cannot update their firmware because we do not want to take any associated risks.